(So, Obama said something about sweeping all the lobbyists out of Washington recently, didn't he?--jef)
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Liz Fowler, a Senate staffer who helped write the Democrat's landmark health care reform legislation after serving as a health insurance industry executive, is now moving up to help implement the new law as the new deputy director of the Office of Consumer Information and Oversight at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
But her appointment has drawn outrage from liberal bloggers and activists who call it an unacceptable example of industry influencing policy and a violation of Obama's promise to end the revolving door between the lobbying industry and the government.
Since 2008, Fowler has worked as senior counsel and the top attorney on health issues for the Senate Finance Committee and its chairman Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.).
Baucus worked desperately for months last year to earn GOP support for the legislation through a "coalition of the willing" that scaled back the bill. Baucus' efforts produced mix results. While Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) voted in favor of the measure in committee, she ultimately joined all her fellow Republicans in voting against the plan on the Senate floor. Along the way, his committee also rejected multiple amendments that would have added a public insurance option to the committee's version of the bill, a priority for many liberals.
Fowler first started on the Finance Committee in 2001, where she worked until 2005 as the Chief Health and Entitlements Counsel. In this position, she played a key role in helping Baucus with the 2003 Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act. That legislation, sponsored by then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), extended prescription drug coverage to Medicare patients, under a new feature known as "Medicare Part D."
Some consumer groups and politicians criticized Hastert's bill for being too friendly to pharmaceutical and health insurance industries. Among the criticisms: It barred the government from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices. It also required senior citizens to pay the full amount for drugs between the initial coverage limit and the amount at which catastrophic coverage kicks in -- commonly referred to as the "donut hole" -- a blemish the legislation signed into law by Obama in March will end.
After this first stint on the Finance Committee, Fowler moved to the private sector to work as the vice president of public policy and external affairs for WellPoint Inc. -- the largest health insurance company in the Blue Cross/Blue Shield association. During last year's health reform debate, these companies were vocally opposed to many of the Democrats' health reform ideas.
But her appointment has drawn outrage from liberal bloggers and activists who call it an unacceptable example of industry influencing policy and a violation of Obama's promise to end the revolving door between the lobbying industry and the government.
Since 2008, Fowler has worked as senior counsel and the top attorney on health issues for the Senate Finance Committee and its chairman Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.).
Baucus worked desperately for months last year to earn GOP support for the legislation through a "coalition of the willing" that scaled back the bill. Baucus' efforts produced mix results. While Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) voted in favor of the measure in committee, she ultimately joined all her fellow Republicans in voting against the plan on the Senate floor. Along the way, his committee also rejected multiple amendments that would have added a public insurance option to the committee's version of the bill, a priority for many liberals.
Fowler first started on the Finance Committee in 2001, where she worked until 2005 as the Chief Health and Entitlements Counsel. In this position, she played a key role in helping Baucus with the 2003 Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act. That legislation, sponsored by then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), extended prescription drug coverage to Medicare patients, under a new feature known as "Medicare Part D."
Some consumer groups and politicians criticized Hastert's bill for being too friendly to pharmaceutical and health insurance industries. Among the criticisms: It barred the government from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices. It also required senior citizens to pay the full amount for drugs between the initial coverage limit and the amount at which catastrophic coverage kicks in -- commonly referred to as the "donut hole" -- a blemish the legislation signed into law by Obama in March will end.
After this first stint on the Finance Committee, Fowler moved to the private sector to work as the vice president of public policy and external affairs for WellPoint Inc. -- the largest health insurance company in the Blue Cross/Blue Shield association. During last year's health reform debate, these companies were vocally opposed to many of the Democrats' health reform ideas.
Before her work on the Finance Committee, Fowler worked in the private sector career at the Washington law firm Hogan & Hartson, and she worked for nearly five years as a researcher at HealthSystem Minnesota.
These experiences are now earning her praise from her supporters.
“Liz Fowler is an extremely knowledgeable and dedicated adviser, and while I’m very proud of her new position, she will certainly be missed at the committee,” Baucus recently told theBillings Gazette.
"Anyone who knows her knows her interests are in fixing the health care system, not in insurance company profits," an Obama administration official told OpenSecrets Blog. "She left on not great terms with them. She left Wellpoint because she wasn’t happy there because they were opposing reform. They came out against health care reform in California, and she decided to leave."
“If there’s one person you want at HHS helping to implement the Affordable Care Act, it’s Liz," White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said in a statement e-mailed to OpenSecrets Blog.
"As one of the major drafters of the law -- and as a driving force for health reform going back many years -- she knows the ins and outs of implementation better than almost anyone," Cherlin continued. "Her appointment is completely in line with the stringent ethics standards that President Obama put in place, and we’re thrilled that she’s willing to do the job."
Such comments have not satisfied critics of the move.
"It looks like she doesn't really violate the [White House ethics] rules as they articulated them in the executive order, but it is violating the spirit of the rules," Danielle Brian, executive director for the Project On Government Oversight told the Huffington Post.
"In other words," wrote Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald, "implementation of the massive health care bill just enacted by the Congress will be overseen by a former high-level executive of the nation's largest private health insurer."
Liberal blog FireDogLake's Marcy Wheeler added in a post online: "This is the kind of “oversight” that resulted in the BP disaster."
Fowler's traversing through the revolving door between government service and the private sector is not unique. In fact, the Senate Finance Committee is tied for first among all congressional committees for the highest number of staffers-turned-lobbyists and lobbyists-turned-staffers. Additionally, by the Center's tally, Baucus is the senator with thesecond highest number of revolving door connections among his current and former staffers.
These experiences are now earning her praise from her supporters.
“Liz Fowler is an extremely knowledgeable and dedicated adviser, and while I’m very proud of her new position, she will certainly be missed at the committee,” Baucus recently told theBillings Gazette.
"Anyone who knows her knows her interests are in fixing the health care system, not in insurance company profits," an Obama administration official told OpenSecrets Blog. "She left on not great terms with them. She left Wellpoint because she wasn’t happy there because they were opposing reform. They came out against health care reform in California, and she decided to leave."
“If there’s one person you want at HHS helping to implement the Affordable Care Act, it’s Liz," White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said in a statement e-mailed to OpenSecrets Blog.
"As one of the major drafters of the law -- and as a driving force for health reform going back many years -- she knows the ins and outs of implementation better than almost anyone," Cherlin continued. "Her appointment is completely in line with the stringent ethics standards that President Obama put in place, and we’re thrilled that she’s willing to do the job."
Such comments have not satisfied critics of the move.
"It looks like she doesn't really violate the [White House ethics] rules as they articulated them in the executive order, but it is violating the spirit of the rules," Danielle Brian, executive director for the Project On Government Oversight told the Huffington Post.
"In other words," wrote Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald, "implementation of the massive health care bill just enacted by the Congress will be overseen by a former high-level executive of the nation's largest private health insurer."
Liberal blog FireDogLake's Marcy Wheeler added in a post online: "This is the kind of “oversight” that resulted in the BP disaster."
Fowler's traversing through the revolving door between government service and the private sector is not unique. In fact, the Senate Finance Committee is tied for first among all congressional committees for the highest number of staffers-turned-lobbyists and lobbyists-turned-staffers. Additionally, by the Center's tally, Baucus is the senator with thesecond highest number of revolving door connections among his current and former staffers.
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